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The First Heroes: Library Edition
Immediately after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo itself. At his bidding, a squadron of scarcely trained army fliers, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, set forth on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission. Their extraordinary success led directly to what every historian now believes was the turning point in the war against Japan, and helped convince the nation and the world that the Allies might eventually triumph.A true account that almost defies belief, The First Heroes is a tremendous human drama of great personal courage and a powerful reminder that ordinary people, when faced with extraordinary circumstances, can rise to the challenge of history.
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First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Craig Nelson
12 books18 followersCRAIG NELSON is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Rocket Men, as well as several previous books, including V is for Victory, Pearl Harbor, The Age of Radiance (a finalist for the PEN Award), The First Heroes, Thomas Paine (winner of the Henry Adams Prize), and Let’s Get Lost (short-listed for W.H. Smith’s Book of the Year).
His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Soldier of Fortune, Salon, National Geographic, The New England Review, Popular Science, California Quarterly, Blender, Semiotext(e), Reader’s Digest, and a host of other publications; he has been profiled in Variety, Interview, Publishers Weekly, and Time Out.
Before turning to writing, Nelson was vice president and executive editor of Harper & Row, Hyperion, and Random House, where he oversaw the publishing of twenty national bestsellers and worked with such authors as John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Lily Tomlin, Philip Glass, Rita Mae Brown, Steve Wozniak, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Alex Trebek, William Shatner, the Rolling Stones, Orson Welles, Robert Evans, David Lynch, Roseanne Barr, and Barry Williams.
He is a graduate of UT Austin, and attended the USC Film School, the UCLA writing program, and the Harvard-Radcliffe publishing course. He turned to writing full-time in 2002.
As a historian he is known for epic moments in the American experience — Pearl Harbor; the race to the Moon; the nation’s founding; and the nuclear era — that are both engrossingly page-turning and distinguished for their scholarship. Massively researched from scratch, his books are eye-opening and definitive accounts of the profound moments that made us who we are today.
Craig lives in an 1867 department store in Greenwich Village.
His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Soldier of Fortune, Salon, National Geographic, The New England Review, Popular Science, California Quarterly, Blender, Semiotext(e), Reader’s Digest, and a host of other publications; he has been profiled in Variety, Interview, Publishers Weekly, and Time Out.
Before turning to writing, Nelson was vice president and executive editor of Harper & Row, Hyperion, and Random House, where he oversaw the publishing of twenty national bestsellers and worked with such authors as John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Lily Tomlin, Philip Glass, Rita Mae Brown, Steve Wozniak, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Alex Trebek, William Shatner, the Rolling Stones, Orson Welles, Robert Evans, David Lynch, Roseanne Barr, and Barry Williams.
He is a graduate of UT Austin, and attended the USC Film School, the UCLA writing program, and the Harvard-Radcliffe publishing course. He turned to writing full-time in 2002.
As a historian he is known for epic moments in the American experience — Pearl Harbor; the race to the Moon; the nation’s founding; and the nuclear era — that are both engrossingly page-turning and distinguished for their scholarship. Massively researched from scratch, his books are eye-opening and definitive accounts of the profound moments that made us who we are today.
Craig lives in an 1867 department store in Greenwich Village.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
June 23, 2020
What an amazing story! It is the true story of the Doolittle raid during World War II--the same story as commemorated by the movie "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo". The author, Craig Nelson, did a tremendous amount of research into the history of the war in the Pacific theater. (Not much at all is mentioned about the war in Europe.) The odds against these aviator heroes were immense. They had to launch their bombers from a short carrier flight deck--incredible during that day and age. The airplanes were plagued by so many problems and defects. Yet, none of the volunteer crews would mention these defects, in fear that their flights would be scrubbed. The crews all realized that they did not have enough fuel to return to the carrier; and they probably would not have returned in any case, for fear that their return would lead enemy planes back to the carrier fleet.
As a result, most of the airplanes crashed in Japanese-occupied China. One of the planes landed in the Soviet Union, and one was ditched in coastal waters. And that is when the true feats of heroism began. The aftermath of the raid is covered in detail. Some of the crew members were wounded while evacuating their aircraft. Many became POW's and suffered through horrific treatment. It is said that the Japanese retaliated--more like extracted revenge--by killing tens of thousands of Chinese civilians.
The raid itself did little material damage to Japan, but had a psychological toll. The Japanese thought of their homeland as being impregnable, but the raid demonstrated otherwise. The aftermath of the raid, and the post-war stories of all the aviators is described in some detail. The writing is so engaging--it is a true history, but parts of it read like a thriller. Highly recommended!
As a result, most of the airplanes crashed in Japanese-occupied China. One of the planes landed in the Soviet Union, and one was ditched in coastal waters. And that is when the true feats of heroism began. The aftermath of the raid is covered in detail. Some of the crew members were wounded while evacuating their aircraft. Many became POW's and suffered through horrific treatment. It is said that the Japanese retaliated--more like extracted revenge--by killing tens of thousands of Chinese civilians.
The raid itself did little material damage to Japan, but had a psychological toll. The Japanese thought of their homeland as being impregnable, but the raid demonstrated otherwise. The aftermath of the raid, and the post-war stories of all the aviators is described in some detail. The writing is so engaging--it is a true history, but parts of it read like a thriller. Highly recommended!
September 1, 2010
Great book but i cannot understand the author's sudden shift to religion the last 20% of the book. It was like a great movie being interrupted because my mother accidentally taped over it with an episode of the 700 club. There had been no discussion of religion previously, and it was not relevant to the story. It was almost as if the author was saying the U.S. was superior morally and militarily because of Christianity. That said, the first 80% is very good.
January 2, 2025
Finished in a day. Bella is definitely from the outside leading Jacob on. He knows the situation I suppose and tries to convince himself continual affections will win her over. Disappointed the voice in Bella’s head never paid off. Glad it ended well for the little Romeo and Juliet
January 9, 2022
I am being generous with two stars. An historians veracity, to me, is really the most important aspect of their writing. If you can't get simple facts correct, what else have you gotten wrong. I picked this book up a few years ago and had just gotten to it. I was quite excited to read the story, heroic pilots out on, what could be, a suicide mission. I did know some of the basics from other books I had read, but, this was the first I had read specifically on the mission. The book starts out ok with the pilots learning about Pearl Harbor and what happened to them immediately following.
The the author decides to give a history lesson about the beginnings of the pacific war. This is where I hit my first "what?" moment. In telling about the Chinese and Japanese fighting, the author starts to talk about an incident in Shanghai in 1932 where some Japanese monks were attacked and killed by the Chinese. He states that the Japanese retaliated by bombing Shanghai, which they did, killing hundreds of thousands of people, which they did not. This caught me off guard because I had recently finished a book on the Battle of Shanghai in 1937. I did not recall seeing mention of these kind of casualties prior to 1937. So I did a quick search, and yes there were thousands of casualties but not hundreds of thousands. And, this incident did not even start the Sino Japanese war (or IMO the beginning of WW2). That was much later when the Japanese attacked in Beijing, with the Chinese following up and attacking the Japanese in Shanghai. If you are looking for the hundreds of thousand of Chinese casualties you need look no further than the campaign of Shanghai-Nanjing 1937.
I did press on and came to several pages, the author decided, should detail the attack on Pearl Harbor. Personally I found this a waste of space. Certainly Pearl Harbor needs to be mentioned at this point in the war, but the author goes into too much detail for this book, but not really enough to tell the story. It seems to me it should be mentioned, but there was really no need to go into the detail that he did.
The main body of the book goes back to the training and the mission. This part I found to be quite good. It follows the raiders stories as they go through the training, fly the mission, and get to China. The it takes another weird turn to Midway. I understand Midway was a reaction to the raid itself and worthy of mention (that and the Hornet and Enterprise were involved in both), but again, the author decides to tell the story in some depth, 8 pages worth. I skipped them. There are much better books on Midway, and it deserves a better telling than what 8 pages will do.
The author then kind of rambles through the last part of the book. There are some good sections on the raiders that became prisoners, and of course Ted Lawson, the raider and author of 30 seconds over Tokyo. But overall it seems to fall apart. There is some followup on the raiders, and what happened to them, but it seems to focus on the 21 that were alive when the author was writing. I feel this is a huge missed opportunity to have a couple sentences about the guys, all of them, what happened to them once they returned from China, and what happed to them after the war. Similar to what is done with Band of Brothers. I think the scope, just the raiders, is limited enough, that it could have been done with just a little more effort.
Instead what we get is a bunch of Pacific War factoids that have nothing to do with the story. For instance, the author gives the casualties on Okinawa. Why? It has nothing to do with the story. And, to make it worse, he gets the facts wrong. He states that out of the 12,000 dead at Okinawa, 7,000 were naval personnel killed by kamikaze. While I understood the kamikaze attacks took a large toll of naval personnel, I found it odd that they outnumbered ground casualties (deaths). Well no they did not, he had the numbers reversed.
Overall, what could have, and should have, been a great book on the Doolittle raiders, turns out to be pretty awful. I had another example of incorrect facts but I can't recall what it was, though the two mentioned above are really enough to show the lack of research and attention to detail put into this book. At one point I almost just quit reading, but decided to go on. Probably should have quit and gone on to something else.
The the author decides to give a history lesson about the beginnings of the pacific war. This is where I hit my first "what?" moment. In telling about the Chinese and Japanese fighting, the author starts to talk about an incident in Shanghai in 1932 where some Japanese monks were attacked and killed by the Chinese. He states that the Japanese retaliated by bombing Shanghai, which they did, killing hundreds of thousands of people, which they did not. This caught me off guard because I had recently finished a book on the Battle of Shanghai in 1937. I did not recall seeing mention of these kind of casualties prior to 1937. So I did a quick search, and yes there were thousands of casualties but not hundreds of thousands. And, this incident did not even start the Sino Japanese war (or IMO the beginning of WW2). That was much later when the Japanese attacked in Beijing, with the Chinese following up and attacking the Japanese in Shanghai. If you are looking for the hundreds of thousand of Chinese casualties you need look no further than the campaign of Shanghai-Nanjing 1937.
I did press on and came to several pages, the author decided, should detail the attack on Pearl Harbor. Personally I found this a waste of space. Certainly Pearl Harbor needs to be mentioned at this point in the war, but the author goes into too much detail for this book, but not really enough to tell the story. It seems to me it should be mentioned, but there was really no need to go into the detail that he did.
The main body of the book goes back to the training and the mission. This part I found to be quite good. It follows the raiders stories as they go through the training, fly the mission, and get to China. The it takes another weird turn to Midway. I understand Midway was a reaction to the raid itself and worthy of mention (that and the Hornet and Enterprise were involved in both), but again, the author decides to tell the story in some depth, 8 pages worth. I skipped them. There are much better books on Midway, and it deserves a better telling than what 8 pages will do.
The author then kind of rambles through the last part of the book. There are some good sections on the raiders that became prisoners, and of course Ted Lawson, the raider and author of 30 seconds over Tokyo. But overall it seems to fall apart. There is some followup on the raiders, and what happened to them, but it seems to focus on the 21 that were alive when the author was writing. I feel this is a huge missed opportunity to have a couple sentences about the guys, all of them, what happened to them once they returned from China, and what happed to them after the war. Similar to what is done with Band of Brothers. I think the scope, just the raiders, is limited enough, that it could have been done with just a little more effort.
Instead what we get is a bunch of Pacific War factoids that have nothing to do with the story. For instance, the author gives the casualties on Okinawa. Why? It has nothing to do with the story. And, to make it worse, he gets the facts wrong. He states that out of the 12,000 dead at Okinawa, 7,000 were naval personnel killed by kamikaze. While I understood the kamikaze attacks took a large toll of naval personnel, I found it odd that they outnumbered ground casualties (deaths). Well no they did not, he had the numbers reversed.
Overall, what could have, and should have, been a great book on the Doolittle raiders, turns out to be pretty awful. I had another example of incorrect facts but I can't recall what it was, though the two mentioned above are really enough to show the lack of research and attention to detail put into this book. At one point I almost just quit reading, but decided to go on. Probably should have quit and gone on to something else.
November 16, 2017
“The First Hero’s” written by Craig Nelson is a historical nonfiction book about Americas first win after World War II’s Pearl Harbor incident. The group of soldiers are sent to Japan to hit them with a revenge raid of dropping bombs in Tokyo. They were lead by Jimmy Doolittle, a U.S lieutenant. Everyone thought it would be a suicide mission but instead turned out to be an amazing American victory and one of the major turning points in World War II.
The book had a surprising amount of information and an ample amount of detail of the accounts of Jimmy’s raid. It also had a bit of humor in it which some people might enjoy.
The book had a surprising amount of information and an ample amount of detail of the accounts of Jimmy’s raid. It also had a bit of humor in it which some people might enjoy.
January 29, 2018
Excellent! The author knows how to tell a story. I have seen "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" countless times, and although I knew that some of the Raiders had been executed, I did not know the details of their deaths or the details of the other Raiders' capture/escape/mental and physical conditions. The details of what solitary confinement can do to someone mentally was heartbreaking to read.
One thought I had when I first started to read this book in regards to the title: I think the "First Heroes" of World War Two, were the men and women who were killed and those who survived the attack on December 7, 1941.
One thought I had when I first started to read this book in regards to the title: I think the "First Heroes" of World War Two, were the men and women who were killed and those who survived the attack on December 7, 1941.
July 31, 2019
Amazing. I know enough about WWII history to keep up with this book, but that being said -There are a lot of facts in this book that can make it a challenging read: places, plane types, calibers, etc. This isn't a beach read, nor was it meant to be. While challenging, it is still relatively easy to read. And I don't mean the content is light. There are so many personal stories mixed in with the factual information that you just want to keep reading. While some parts seemed to bog the book down, the emotion and suspense, as well as learning in depth what these Veterans went through for their country make up for those bogged down parts. Highly recommend to anyone with any interest in WWII.
April 21, 2022
(Audiobook) A detailed, riveting account of the boldest of aerial missions: the Doolittle Raid. It covers the planning, the execution and the aftermath of those who flew the missions, as well as setting up the background/context for the raid. Sometimes Nelson spends too much time covering matters that are not as germane to the Raid, but the telling of the primary tales and players is good enough. This was written while some of the flyers were alive, but the personal accounts and recollections are a strength. Glad I read it before the 80th anniversary. Worth the read at anytime though, especially if you aren’t as familiar with all the details.
April 12, 2023
The book is a five star rating of a great story. Well documented and researched, full of first person accounts it is well worth the time to read. I was a given a copy by my father (a WW2 B17 bombardier assigned to the 306th BG flying out of Thurleigh, UK) along with a $5.00 bill signed by six survivors of the mission. The only criticism I have is that in my opinion the author uses too many slang terms (such as “eggs” for bombs, “eels” for torpedoes). In the introduction he suggests that the Doolittle Raid has been virtually lost to history and is known only to diehard WW2 scholars and buffs. This detracts from presentation, at least in my opinion.
July 4, 2022
I've read WWII history since I was a kid (64 years now) and I learned new things from this well-written volume. Nelson does a great job showing the larger picture of the world-changing conflict and illustrating it with caring close-up portrayals of the men who carried out the audacious Doolittle Raid. Eighty men from whom we have inherited the world. May this book inspire us to keep doing our part.
February 4, 2024
This is a great book covering in thorough detail not only the Doolittle Raid and the resulting outcome for those fliers but also detailing other significant events such as Pearl Harbor and the Battle for Midway. A very comprehensive book with a more complete picture of brave aviators that all went above and beyond the call of duty.
January 24, 2018
excellent book on history of war in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor, very personal story's of each of the Doolittle Raiders who were POW's of Japan, terrible and horrible hardships. not all of them survived, but some went on to other battles and campaigns. I highly recommend this book.
January 28, 2021
I don't recall ever learning or hearing mention of this raid, I am familiar with other raids, especially the one involving my maternal grandfather. Really a fascinating read that is worth it for all in history, WW2, and heroism.
July 21, 2018
Oveall, this was fine. It was considerably better when focused on the raid and the Raiders, much weaker when it went into general history.
November 4, 2018
Comprehensive account of the Doolittle raid--well written. Complexity increased because of the number of persons involved. A very good read overall.
January 29, 2021
3.5 stars
February 27, 2021
Good hard to follow all the different people and storylines though
09:21 02/27/21
Audio
Middlebury, VT
09:21 02/27/21
Audio
Middlebury, VT
September 19, 2021
Quite interesting
August 9, 2023
A great history of the Doolittle Raid and why it took to accomplish their mission and what happened to them after bombing Japan.
June 4, 2024
Very detailed.
November 21, 2024
It made me cry it was so sad when Edward left her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It also made me hate Edward for a while. But I love the series!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 17, 2025
I loved this book. I have this thing for WWII and so interesting to learn about a portion of it that's not as well-known. Super interesting and written superbly.
April 9, 2021
This was a nice comprehensive history of not only the Doolittle raid, but the events leading up and surrounding it. Nothing really new but just a different telling of it.
Read
January 15, 2017 The First Heroes is a non-fiction book about the first victory of the United States after Pearl Harbor. The flying ace Jimmy Doolittle was recruited by the Unites States military to lead a group of Army Air Core bombers. Their mission: strike a major blow to Japanese morale and military factories and equipment. The mission, if successful was thought of as suicide. With his team of volunteer Air Core members, they headed to Tokyo for their attack. This book follows their journey to Tokyo, and what happened to the sixteen individual bombers and their teams after the attack. One theme of this story is that you don't know if something will work well or not, so just try and see what happens.
This book impressed me with the amazing bravery of Doolittle and his men. They never thought of themselves, and instead thought of their fellow soldiers and how this could affect the war. The men of this event were selfless and always felt that they should have done more with Jimmy Doolittle saying " There has never been a time when I've been completely satisfied with myself (363)." What also impressed me was the amount of brutal torture that the captured men of the mission had to endure. A few unfortunate soldiers fell into the Japanese's hands. Some of the accounts of the soldiers who were able to leave described how "Some POW's were forced to drink gallons of water and then lie on the floor as five guards took turns jumping on their stomachs." This was cruel and unusual torture of the Doolittle men, and despite this they were brave enough to make it out and return to the United States. Finally, what was impressive was the ability of the Chinese citizens who helped the soldiers. Their plan was to land in a part of free China, but when their planes ran out of gas everyone realized that was not going to be possible. Many of the planes landed safely, a few had rougher landings and injuries. The injuries were treated in part by the Chinese, who caught wind of the successful Tokyo raid. The Chinese assisted in escorting the soldiers to free China. One of the men from one of the bomber crews nicknamed "Shorty" had hurt his leg and was very tired. While washing himself off in a creek he notices some Chinese men show up. One of these men, "Offered to carry me on his back. I laughed at him because I thought I would be too heavy for him. He insisted and when I did, he threw it into high blower and went up and downs those hills for two miles like a billy goat." (197) The Chinese supported the Americans because the bombing raid not only boosted American Morale but Chinese morale as well. This was impressive that the news reached China this fast.
Overall, I thought this was a good historical book to read. It provided accurate information about past events, and how they unfolded. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into history and nonfiction books. This book has variety in the fact that it provides multiple different perspectives of everyone's personal account.
This book impressed me with the amazing bravery of Doolittle and his men. They never thought of themselves, and instead thought of their fellow soldiers and how this could affect the war. The men of this event were selfless and always felt that they should have done more with Jimmy Doolittle saying " There has never been a time when I've been completely satisfied with myself (363)." What also impressed me was the amount of brutal torture that the captured men of the mission had to endure. A few unfortunate soldiers fell into the Japanese's hands. Some of the accounts of the soldiers who were able to leave described how "Some POW's were forced to drink gallons of water and then lie on the floor as five guards took turns jumping on their stomachs." This was cruel and unusual torture of the Doolittle men, and despite this they were brave enough to make it out and return to the United States. Finally, what was impressive was the ability of the Chinese citizens who helped the soldiers. Their plan was to land in a part of free China, but when their planes ran out of gas everyone realized that was not going to be possible. Many of the planes landed safely, a few had rougher landings and injuries. The injuries were treated in part by the Chinese, who caught wind of the successful Tokyo raid. The Chinese assisted in escorting the soldiers to free China. One of the men from one of the bomber crews nicknamed "Shorty" had hurt his leg and was very tired. While washing himself off in a creek he notices some Chinese men show up. One of these men, "Offered to carry me on his back. I laughed at him because I thought I would be too heavy for him. He insisted and when I did, he threw it into high blower and went up and downs those hills for two miles like a billy goat." (197) The Chinese supported the Americans because the bombing raid not only boosted American Morale but Chinese morale as well. This was impressive that the news reached China this fast.
Overall, I thought this was a good historical book to read. It provided accurate information about past events, and how they unfolded. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into history and nonfiction books. This book has variety in the fact that it provides multiple different perspectives of everyone's personal account.
November 4, 2013
The First Heroes
My book is based on a true story of the men of seventeen bombardment group. Their mission was to drop a bomb on multiple cities in japan. It was considered a suicide mission to most. It was the first attack on japan and would spark world war 2. The first half in the book is all about them preparing for the bombing and training. They were told before hand that they would most likely die attempting this mission. They were told that if they were shot down while flying and were captured they would most likely be tortured for years. These men attempting this top secret mission were in their early 20’s and didn't really care about their futures they were just living in the moment.
Throughout the story there is a moral struggle between one of the men between either quitting the mission or going through with it. He had a child to care about but i the end he went through with the mission to serve his country. this book is intense and has lots of action in it. It gets dull at times but you just have to keep reading because it gets really good near the half waypoint. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes war books and world war 2 history books.
My book is based on a true story of the men of seventeen bombardment group. Their mission was to drop a bomb on multiple cities in japan. It was considered a suicide mission to most. It was the first attack on japan and would spark world war 2. The first half in the book is all about them preparing for the bombing and training. They were told before hand that they would most likely die attempting this mission. They were told that if they were shot down while flying and were captured they would most likely be tortured for years. These men attempting this top secret mission were in their early 20’s and didn't really care about their futures they were just living in the moment.
Throughout the story there is a moral struggle between one of the men between either quitting the mission or going through with it. He had a child to care about but i the end he went through with the mission to serve his country. this book is intense and has lots of action in it. It gets dull at times but you just have to keep reading because it gets really good near the half waypoint. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes war books and world war 2 history books.
January 6, 2015
actions of ordinary people unusual times, bomb sub 65 miles off WA coast, Eleanor not all are snakes, special aviation project1, east coast turn-off lights lost 397 ships 6 months, April Japan studies ship movements, failure of US to take Japan seriously, knew attack coming after Germans attacked London May 40, Roosevelt recession, Joe Kennedy don’t send supplies to England, media cover only 2 shots in wheel chair, after Pearl fdr concern now I will go down in history disgraced, military under fdr slipped to 14th place, bad equipment quality not addressed till Truman, fdr in 38 thought Germany to war, 75mph at 170mph speed, 90 bldgs, Flying Tigers not aware, day later Chinese knew of, Shangrila to Camp David, Russian black bread, 80 crew 75 10mia, Japan counter 250K Chinese, developed drug war via fleas plagues, some come home as heroes others as angels, NW OR bomb after Midway, 3 executed in Japan plus 1 survived and forgave via Bible read pray and bear witness, fire bombing 16sq miles, fire balloons to US 1K, Pacific war 4 years occupy 7 years, Pearl lack of single responsibility, Doolittle 265 planes age 96, Mrs Chiang Kai-Shek 105 NYC, Great East Asian War.
January 1, 2013
The First Heroes is purportedly about one of the most influential bomber raids in the history of 20th century air warfare. But this is not a dry historical description of one event in WWII. Instead, the author uses the Doolittle Raid as a central event to weave the entire story of the 1930s-40s war in the Pacific around. A good introductory read for those who do not know a lot about this side of WWII, and at the same time, an interesting discussion for those with a little more background. Though some historians have complained about a minor detail or two, overall this is a well done overview of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Among his other resources is the work and notes of Carroll Glines, author of The Doolittle Raid (see my review).
July 5, 2008
This book is on the 2006 CSAF Reading List. (See CSAF Professional Reading Program)
I usually like getting my history from an encyclopedia; however, this book was fantastic. The author covered ever detail available to him with plenty of first-hand interviews from both the United States and Japan. He also gave just the right amount of background information on World War II, Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan as a whole without getting off subject. This was a very well written book.
I usually like getting my history from an encyclopedia; however, this book was fantastic. The author covered ever detail available to him with plenty of first-hand interviews from both the United States and Japan. He also gave just the right amount of background information on World War II, Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan as a whole without getting off subject. This was a very well written book.
August 2, 2009
I stumbled across this book while looking for another book written by the same author. I reccomend this book and great story to anyone who enjoys WWII history. I didnt know much about the raid other than the movie and Book 30 seconds Over Tokyo, and the last part of the movie Pearl Harbor. If there was ever a time that the US needed a much needed dose of morale it was in 1942. While the raid did not cause much in the way of a militatry victory. Just the fact that we did was cause enough for celebration.
September 28, 2012
My favorite line in the major Hollywood picture "Pearl Harbor" is delivered by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle: "Boys, there's a phrase I want you to memorize: 'Wo si yi ge mae guo ren.' It means 'I am an American'...in Chinese." Classic. Believe it or not, though, this book is even better than Alec Baldwin's delivery. There's so much to this unbelievably bold chapter in WWII history, and this book covers it all in exhaustive detail without being too exhausting to read. If you like impossible missions, larger-than-life characters, and America, "First Heroes" is sure to delight and amaze you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews